PlainPatent
USPTO 2015–2025 USPTO PatentsView Foreign Corporation

ZF Automotive Germany GmbH

USPTO PatentsView assignee record - 148 granted patents across 42 technology areas, recorded in grant years 2020–2025. Grant-trend analysis is cross-referenced to USPTO Patent Public Search; it does not measure application filings, current R&D, or legal strength. Primary class: B60R (Vehicles, Vehicle Fittings, OR Vehicle Parts, NOT Otherwise Provided FOR).

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The verdict

According to USPTO PatentsView, ZF ranks #2,634 of 49,997 tracked US assignees by granted-patent volume, with 148 patents across 42 technology areas.

#2,634
of 49,997 US assignees by volume
Top 1%
by Innovation Score (69.5/100)
15.5
avg claims per patent

USPTO PatentsView assignee plate

Corpus R2634 · Foreign Corporation #2,634 · 148 grants

GRANTS-MID · TOP-DECILE · PHOTO-FINISH · CPC-WIDE · INNOV-STRONG · CLAIMS-RICH · TYPE-FRNCORP · SPAN-YRS · BOOK-RICH

  • GRANTS-MID 148 grants
  • TOP-DECILE #2,634/49,997
  • PHOTO-FINISH Maschinenfabrik…
  • CPC-WIDE B60R · 42 areas
  • INNOV-STRONG 69.5/100
  • CLAIMS-RICH 15.5 claims/avg
  • TYPE-FRNCORP Foreign Corp
  • SPAN-YRS 2020–2025 · 6y
  • BOOK-RICH 9/10 fields

Nearest grant-volume peer: Maschinenfabrik Reinhausen GMBH (±0 grants)

Instrument codes from this assignee’s USPTO PatentsView grant sheet: volume band, corpus rank, photo-finish peer, lead CPC, Innovation Score, claim depth, assignee type, velocity, and book completeness. Not a USPTO rating of patent strength.

How ZF’s 69.5 Innovation Score adds up

The same four weighted components behind every Innovation Score on PlainPatent: portfolio volume, grant velocity, technology breadth, and claim depth.

Innovation-score neighbourhood around ZF

Lowest and highest poles plus nearest Innovation Score peers, not a full corpus board reprint.

score

What this shows ZF's Innovation Score is 69.5/100 (top 1% of the PatentsView-derived corpus). The chart places that score against the nearest Innovation Score peers plus corpus poles, not a reprint of the volume ranking.

Source USPTO PatentsView, PlainPatent Innovation Score As of 2015–2025

Does more volume mean deeper claims for ZF?

Each dot is one of ZF’s 8 nearest volume peers (same corpus rank neighbourhood as the chart above), placed by total granted patents (horizontal) against average claims per patent (vertical). ZF’s own 15.5 claims/patent is ABOVE the 14.3 median for these volume peers. More thorough claims than most filers at this scale, not just more of them.

ZF vs its 8 nearest volume peers: granted patents vs average claims per patent. Source: USPTO PatentsView. 2×2 strategic matrix plotting 9 entities by Granted patents (volume) (X) and Avg claims / patent (Y), with a crosshair dividing the plot into four quadrants. Volume + depthSelective & thoroughVolume over depthLean filer 146.5147147.5148148.5 101214161820 Granted patents (volume) Avg claims / patent Maschinenfabrik Reinhausen GMBH - 148, 11.7Maschinenfabrik R…Mitsubishi Aircraft Corporation - 148, 12.03Mitsubishi Aircra…Ocient Holdings LLC - 148, 18.55Ocient HoldingsThe University Of Queensland - 148, 18.82The University Of…Aircelle - 147, 10.48AircelleAngioDynamics, Inc. - 147, 14.32AngiodynamicsBlue Yonder Group, Inc. - 147, 18.85Blue Yonder GroupCleversafe, Inc. - 147, 16.6CleversafeZF Automotive Germany GmbH - 148, 15.46ZF Automotive Ger…
ZF vs its 8 nearest volume peers: granted patents vs average claims per patent. Source: USPTO PatentsView.

Where ZF's grants concentrate

ZF Automotive Germany GmbH is a focused PatentsView assignee: 42 CPC subclasses with 50% of grants classified under B60R (Vehicles, Vehicle Fittings, OR Vehicle Parts, NOT Otherwise Provided FOR). Peak complete grant year is 2024 (41 grants) versus a trough of 5 in 2020. By volume, ZF sits between Maschinenfabrik Reinhausen GMBH and Cleversafe, Inc..

ZF's three-year grant acceleration

ZF Automotive Germany GmbH shows 102 grants in 2022–2024 against only 12 in 2019–2021. That prior window is too thin for a growth multiple (rename and spin-out assignees look artificially high when the baseline is near zero), so PlainPatent withholds a ranked acceleration claim here.

Who files at ZF's volume?

Granted US patents 2015–2025 versus its nearest-ranked assignees by volume, this company marked ◀

patents

What this shows ZF holds 148 patents at rank #2,634, shown against the 8 assignees closest to it in grant volume rather than the industry's largest filers.

Source USPTO PatentsView, granted utility patents As of 2015–2025

Companies ranked near ZF

By rank, the assignees closest to #2,634 in granted patent volume.

Leaders in B60R (Vehicles)

Other assignees with the most granted patents in ZF's primary technology class.

Assignees with similar portfolio profiles

Two PlainPatent-derived peer sets for ZF, neither rank-band nor same-CPC leaders (those blocks stay above). In B60R (Vehicles), ZF ranks #68 of 1,969 assignees by patent count in that subclass.

Similar innovation score

Nearest assignees by Innovation Score (69 here).

AUO Corporation 69 President and Fellows of Harvard College 69 UNIVERSITÉ Paris CITÉ 69 Prince Mohammad BIN Fahd University 69

Similar claim depth

Nearest assignees by average claims per patent (15.5 here).

US Conec Ltd. 15.5 avg BenQ Corporation 15.5 avg Board of Trustees of Southern Illinois University 15.5 avg MacDon Industries Ltd. 15.5 avg

ZF's Innovation Score vs. every tracked assignee

Composite of portfolio volume, grant velocity, technology breadth, and claim depth (0–100)

69 Top 1% higher than 99% of 49,997 US assignees

This assignee 0 100 every tracked assignee, bucketed by value

Each bar is a band; taller bars hold more US assignees. The dashed line + filled bar mark this entry. Hover or tap any bar for its full count, share, and where it sits relative to this entry.

Source USPTO PatentsView, PlainPatent Innovation Score · 2015–2025

01020304050 202020212022202320242025 34
USPTO utility patent grants by year · 2020–2025

Grants by year

Teal-shaded recent years (2020–present) versus the 2020–2019 baseline. Full figures in the table below.

View data table
ZF Automotive Germany GmbH patent grants by year, 2015–2025
Year Patents Granted Share of Period
2020 5 3.4%
2021 7 4.7%
2022 24 16.2%
2023 37 25.0%
2024 41 27.7%
2025partial year 34 23.0%

Which technologies does ZF Automotive Germany GmbH patent most?

Top 15 of 42 technology areas

More on this record

Data Source

USPTO PatentsView, US granted patents 2015–2025

View all rankings → How is Innovation Score calculated?

What to do with this data

ZF Automotive Germany GmbH's patent record in context - here's where to go next.

  • ZF Automotive Germany GmbH's lead technology class is B60R (Vehicles, Vehicle Fittings, OR Vehicle Parts, NOT Otherwise Provided FOR), 50% of its portfolio - see every assignee active in that class. Explore B60R
  • Ranked #2,634 of 49,997 tracked assignees by patent volume - see the full leaderboard. See the ranking
  • Compare ZF Automotive Germany GmbH against Maschinenfabrik Reinhausen GMBH, an assignee filing at a similar volume. Compare portfolios
  • Innovation Score of 69.5/100 blends volume, velocity, technology breadth, and claim depth. How it's calculated

Figures reflect USPTO PatentsView grant data through May 2026; pending applications not yet granted are not counted.

Data sourced from USPTO PatentsView - official U.S. government patent data. See our methodology for computation details. Retrieved and formatted by PlainPatent

Disclaimer: This information is provided for informational purposes only and does not constitute professional advice. Data is sourced from the USPTO PatentsView database. Consult a qualified professional before making decisions based on this data.

Read our methodology - how this data is sourced, computed, and verified.

Data sources used on this page
  • USPTO PatentsView - the disambiguated bulk patent-grant, assignee, and CPC data this page's figures are derived from. patentsview.org
  • Cooperative Patent Classification (CPC) - the joint USPTO/EPO classification scheme used to group patents by technology area. cooperativepatentclassification.org
  • USPTO Patent Public Search - the official interface to verify the status of any individual patent. ppubs.uspto.gov

Every figure on PlainPatent is rendered directly from USPTO source data, no number is typed in by an editor. This page draws directly on USPTO source data, no figure is typed in by an editor. See our editorial standards & corrections policy, the methodology behind these numbers, or report a data error. Data current as of May 2026.